BlackHeart
by The 483
Summary: Even though Handsome Jack was killed, the work of Pandora's resident Vault Hunters is never done. A new bandit super clan is spreading, and Hyperion Corporation is acting in an almost isolationist capacity under it's new, unknown CEO. M raiting, because you can't do Borderlands with out foul launguage and gore, and probably some sexy later.


**Borderlands 2: Blackheart**

_**I do not own the rights Borderlands, and long odds on me owning 'em to anything else you may recognize.**_

**#1: Catching up**

I lay on my stomach in the dirt, its acrid scent being pushed in my face by the slight wind eddy that seemed to move perpetually along the edge of the cliff. The sun beat heavily on my back, causing me to sweat not inconsiderably, but still left un-melted patches of snow all over here and there across the desert expanse. A trickle of sweat slid down the side of my face and into the corner of my mouth. The grit in it tasted even more bitter than it smelled. Sighted though the scope on my Jakobs rifle, the same one Sir Hammerlock had gifted to me before we had gone to Hero's Pass, looking from the bandit on the watch tower, then counting the patrollers again. I hate the waiting. I followed the Cliffside that overhung the outpost upward, and scanned the rim briefly until I found the tiny form I was looking for.

Salvador sat on a rock, puffing disinterestedly on a lit cigar, and scratching his beard. He was a strange little man, but I liked him. He was polite and friendly to me, and although he oft made some crude comments to me, I had figured out they were not malicious or serious (or serious enough that it would be a problem, anyway) but just the way he spoke.

It was funny, I suppose, and that we never really got to know each other when we were chasing the vault or going after Jack. Too busy I guess. He said he was staying on Pandora for four reasons. Cheap liquor, cheap whores, plenty things to kill, and that it was his home.

I scanned the surrounding flat plains for a sign of our second, but I didn't expect to find him. Zer0, the assassin, he was always a bit of a puzzle. He was good to have on our side, though. With his skill and cloaking abilities, quite a few bandits within the outpost would be dead before they knew they were under attack. He did not say why he was willing to stay, but he stated he had no plans for leaving. Finally, standing behind me, was the other vault hunter. Axton was always so cheery, always cracking jokes or yelling at our enemies as his turrets tore them to ribbons. He was always ready for action, and stated that he needed to stay out here because he couldn't return to the central planets for a long time.

And me, I like this harsh dirt ball of a planet. Out here, I could actually do some good, like I thought I had been in the Abby. Plus, it was kind of neat to be around another Siren. (and this Eridium really jacks my power up hardcore.) I had no wear better to go, and I like this rugged life.

Truth be told, we were stuck, even if we did want to leave. With Jack dead, we were not being hunted any longer, but Hyperion still held dominance over the planet. And the opening of the second vault, a new wave of Eridium ore was unleashed on the planet, and Hyperion was going to continue mining. We got an ECHO about 4 days after we returned, from the unnamed new CEO of Hyperion, telling us that we would not be targeted as long as we left their operations alone. With their lunar base still functioning, and us without any ships, we were leaving them alone until we had a plan. But with Hyperion taking a isolationist approach now, we learned something.

Now, I am not saying that Jack didn't need to be stopped. He had done things that needed to be addresses. But, he was powerful, and crazy. The kind of crazy that scares other crazy. His indiscriminate destruction had left a lot of the smarter and better organized bandit clans keeping their heads down, and clustering for protection. So when he was stopped, and the bandits came out, they come out in force. Right now, the dominate faction of "wild" bandits were known simply as the "Black Hearts." And that was all we knew. Literally, we could get nothing on them, and we'd been at it since shortly after we killed Jack, a month ago. They were organized far more than any groups we had ever fought before. They had the nasty trick of calling for reinforcements if we couldn't neutralize their transmitters. And when summoned, they came in force that we had to draw back from. Current theory was that Hyperion was supplying them in an attempt to get a cheap bush force of their own, and their load outs seemed to fit that.

"I don't like it." Axton said, causing me to jump slightly. I hoped he didn't notice.

"What?"

"Use your brain, sweetheart. See if you can't puzzle it out." I sighed. Why did he have to be a jackass? I looked over the whole scene again, counted about half a dozen random bandits.

"Okay, I see about six, minus the sentry on the lookout post. Probably another dozen or so inside. This isn't a significant piece of real estate, just thinning out their numbers a bit. Were well outside the known range of the Black Hearts, so we shouldn't have to worry about them. I don't see a problem." He sighed a deep, exasperated sigh that I didn't have to look at to know what his face showed. That irritated me.

"You're lucky your pretty, sweet cheeks. Don't you see, that IS the problem. This is looking too easy." I replied, a bit more churlishly then I would have liked.

"And why can't it be easy?" His tone switched to that of a person explaining a simple concept to a difficult child.

"Because, when has anything on the rock been easy?" I was saved coming up with a retort by a small green light blinking once in the corner of my HUD. Zer0 was in position.

"Ready?" I snapped, as I cast quick look over to see that Salvador had stood and was prepared to leap into the fray.

"Oh, you have no idea." He replied, the predatory smile evident in his voice. I sighted in the watchtower bandit, placed my sight over the direct center of his head, and...CRACK! The stock kicked my shoulder firmly, sending the familiar thrill down my arm. I felt the heat through my back as my Blight Phoenix wings sprouted will the puply remains of the bandits head showered the ground below the post. There were two clicks behind me as Axton tossed both his turrets out, the longbow mechanism engaged, and they blinked to the structures ahead, attaching to walls and starting their bloody pounding. He ran past me, slid down the slopping Cliffside, and sprinted toward the carnage. I had caught just a glimpse as Salvador as he sprung, gun firing wildly, feet impacting the chest of a Nomad, and descending the stairs on it like a skateboard. Then I was up, and moving along the top of the cliff toward the buildings, sighting, firing, working the bolt, firing again. Enemies were flooding out in droves, far more than I had imagined, but still not overwhelming. A Badass Psycho charged Axton, whipped out my hand and lifted it, as he rained a hail of bullets on it from his own Vladof assault weapon. As it neared death, I twisted my hand counterclockwise a tad, the gripped a fist, and compression imploded the bandit into a goopy paste as my lock broke, sending tails of healing energies seeking out friendly targets. As I came to the edge overlooking the buildings, I saw a flash of black, a spray of blood, then a pair of bandits drop, as their comrades sprayed bullets wildly trying to nail their invisible antagonist.

I strapped my rifle to my back, opting instead for my Maliwan bladed corrosive revolver that was strapped to my right thigh. I leapt below, my Blight wings catching a bandit I passed on fire and giving him a fresh coating of acid, landing on a small balcony above the main contest area. I didn't see the Goliath as I was looking down, adding acid shots where I thought they would do the most good, when he caught me with a massive back hand. The hit itself was strong enough to drop my shields to about an 8th of a charge. The impact on the adjacent wall took the rest, and left a nice sized dent with the force of my body. I bruise badly, and the fall to the ground from there did help any either. I rolled off my back to my front, coughing and unable to stand. I had dropped my revolver, so I reached back and triggered the small digi-storage device clipped to the small of my back, and it built up my shotgun in my hand. It barked and turned the midget about to bash my skull in into a reddish, pulpy mist.

"Here." It was Axton, and he through a health hypo at me. I picked it up with shaking hand, stabbed it into the area of my fractured ribs, and squeezed the applicator. The liquid got right to work and I was back on my feet.

"Thanks!" I yelled back, as Salvador, laughing crazily, strode by, both guns firing, one cycled empty, he tossed it and it exploded, as another took it's place, and he let out an unending stream of violent death. I locked another Nomad, tweaking my hand to the right, slamming it with fire, then slag, then shock, then acid, before making a slapping motion and chucking the corpse away

This insanity continued for more time than I care to think about, until there was a wall of corpses around us, and we could take temporary cover.

"Okay, you were right. Looks like they set a trap." I said to Axton as he took a fresh clip for his rifle from Salvador. He hosted a shoulder blown of one of the bandits, which had a crudely painted black heart on the padding.

"Yep. Looks like the Black Hearts range is greater than we thought." The incoming fire was slackening slightly, but rather than a lucky break, we hear the engines of the Bandit Technical's roaring in the distance. Zer0 spoke.

"More Bandits come now./ I shall acquire a car./ We can return home." He blinked out and was gone.

He was as good as his word, for less than a minute later, a Technical crashed through the wall of bodies, driven by the assassin. Salvador was up on the hood and sliding into the turret position before the vehicle slid to a stop, as Zer0 gunned it as Axton and myself grabbed the hand bar on the tail of the car. Luckily I had a foot up already, or I would have been thrown from the car. As I was pulled into the bed by Axton, I saw the reason for Zer0's haste. No less then 8 other technicals were peeling around and giving chase, and a pair of buzzards were coming about. Salvador was already lobbing explosive barrels down range, as Zero swerved and slid, hitting the biggest bumps in an attempt to interrupt the pursuers aim. Axton slapped a turret down in the middle of the cramped space, and it shield sprouted, providing the two of us with a added layer of protection. I locked one of the buzzards, and it staggered under the force, but did not stop. It was smoking, though, so I triggered digi-struct device on my left hip, and my assault rifle, the burst fire Scorpio that I had receive after Roland died when we went after Angel, and it built the weapon in my hand. Got to love the little digi-stucts, they let me carry two extra guns with almost no extra weight. I used a series of well aimed burst, (more shots than I am proud of) and eventually brought the flier down, just to see another two take up the chase.

It was like this all the way back to the Fast Travel node. That me just say now, that I have a little less than no idea how it works. I don't even understand the basics of why it works like it does, even though I use it almost every day. Even the little things, like why, if I am alone, I transit as soon as I press the button, but whenever there are two or more of us, it takes 4 seconds for transit to occur.

Zer0 slid around a final rock outcropping, maintaining the slide until the sidewalls of the tires hit the concrete barrier and rocked me on my ass. Zer0, of course, always the showman, used the bump to throw himself into a roll where he landed upright, motion completely canceled, right at the terminal. Now, I fancy myself as a bit of a gymnast, but I couldn't have done it, and it irked me slightly. We leapt free of the vehicle just as the lead elements of the trailing party rounded the outcropping and poured their considerable fire at our stationary vehicle. I imagine the explosion was quite spectacular, as I was hit in the back by the force and heat of it just as the travel hit and I was yanked into, and then back out of nothing. Unfortunately, the transit did not nullify the push I had received, as I came out landing face down on the hard floor, knocking my wind out. I was hoisted up, one hand on each arm, coughing, and I dusted myself briefly.

"Today… today is just not my day." I said. Salvador grunted and walked off, to do whatever it was he did, and Zer0 hadd already vanished.

"Uhhh, ahem, do you, er… need a hand?" Okay, to explain this, I have to go a little into psychology. Now, in my experience, there are a number of ways a persons body react to the rigors of combat. The surging adrenaline, the shock, the trauma, the smell, all of that combines and leaves quite an impression on a person when everything calms down. For instance, Brick, he gets drunk on the concoction, getting more pumped up the longer he's killed. Like once, I was out with him near where New Haven used to be, and a clan of bandits, the… oh, I don't remember, it was one of those splinter groups, had set up shop. At one point, after he had killed about half of them, he got hit by an incendiary. He didn't even notice, he just kept smashing them into jelly. I think Salvador has a similar reaction, but he also gets really hungry. I don't want to make any presumptions or false connections, but I caught a look at his wanted poster when we were buring all the trash Jack left behind, and one of the items listed was cannibalism. I choose to believe this was just one of the charges they made up to pad his bounty.

Me, however, I get an odd combination of effects. The part I am comfortable with relating to anyone is, I get tired, dead tired. The adrenaline washing out of my system, and, if I am using Eridium to fuel my Siren abilities, leaves me on the verge of collapsing. But, and I am a little ashamed of this even now, it also makes me horny to the point I feel like I might mount the next thing that comes near enough..

Heh, I still remember the first time I felt it, back on Athenas after a particularly vigorous hand to hand training session. It scared me a little, as the Order had drummed into my head for years the evils of carnal passions. After the length of time I spent on Pandora, I was no longer scared of it, still embarrassed about it, but at least I was used to it. Still a virgin afraid to make that leap. I wish I had made my handler suffer longer.

Ok, now to relate this back, as Axton spoke, his calm, and rather shy demeanor had already caught me of guard a bit, as he is at all other times so damn cocky. But he reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. My bare, left shoulder. At the warm, calloused touch, a primal surge of fire burned in my gut and slightly lower and he yelped and drew away. My blue markings flared hot along the length of my body as bright and clear as if I were locking something, and burned the hell out of his hand. I was so embarrassed my arousal faded completely.

"Oh, shit, I am sorry, I… I don't know what that was." I turned to him, and he was shaking his hand roughly. "Here, let me fix it." I snatched his hand out of the air before he could protest, noticing that I could smell where my markings had burned my clothing. Now they pulsed cool, as I applied the healing aspects of my powers to his injury. This mixture of healing and destructive power, I found by talking with her, was present in Lilith as well, though in a different form. She could heal herself with her Phase Walk, while mine could only heal others, except in the course of harming others, and generating the life sustain energies through that.

"Uh… thanks…" he said awkwardly as I finished and stepped back. "We… uh… we should report in so I can…uh… hit the sack…" He rubbed the back of his head as he spoke, pointedly not looking at me, and I felt even worse.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll let them know, you can go ahead." I kept my face turned, my shame glowing in my cheeks. For gods sake, I am an elemental god of bassassery, why the hell was this getting to me like this?

"Ok, thanks. I…I'll see you later then." He exited the opposite door, preferring to bunk it the barracks that had been established near Moxxi's south door, while I was the only one still bunking in the Raiders HQ. I made mental note to go and see Marcus later, as I had never managed to retrieve my revolver, ad would need a new one before I left next. As I entered the dimly lit building, I saw Mordecai sitting on a bed, playing with his new little bird. After things had calmed down, Brick took me down to Jackobs Cove, where there were two, no, three things of interest. First, there were a shit ton of Zombies. They burn good. Second, there were Were-skags. These are unpleasant. Finally, near the cost, there are Bloodwing nesting grounds. So, some zombie slime and a few dozen claw gouges later, we come out with an egg, which he made me present Mordecai, and threatened to break me if I mentioned his roll in it. Why he did not want his friend to know he cared, I do not know, but as he more than twice my size, I am not going to push the matter. The little bird was a male, which was good, as I did not know them well, but I could tell that his Bloodwing (not the most creative name, given it is the species name) could never be replaced. He named it Roland, and no one pointed out how corny that was, because in a way we all recognized the importance of the homage. His right arm was torn to shreds from the little birds talons, but he didn't seem to mind. His drunken, tired movements held a ghost of his past agility, and hinted at the warrior he must have been years back. I would have liked to see that, just based on the stories I had heard. Plus, he won the in the Underdome, and I have heard how difficult that was.

Tannis, I saw, was back in her corner with the washing machines, and a quick glace told me she was up to something I would have no interest in investigating. As I made my way up the stairs, I realized how tired I was. The additional strain from whatever had happened at the Fast Travel hub really took it out of me. Damned hormones. I got to the situation room to find Lilith talking to someone of echo, leaning over the map table, the blocked id and blocked voice print displayed.

"… will be completed later tonight. At that point, we will detonate all maintained property in the vicinity. No cleanup will be undergone on our end. The liquidation of the remaining loaders will be left to you, and not considered hostile action within the boundary of the area designated "The Badlands." If we do plan any future incursions into the area, we will send word first, and then an unarmed envoy second, in case the message was not received. Action against the envoy will be judged with some leniency. Other than that, we cede the land.

"We here at Hyperion, wish you to know that the actions taken against you and your fellow Vault Hunters was a personal vendetta, and in no way represents the opinions and views of the entirety of the Hyperion corporation. Your original, and more recent openings of the Vault have ensured or further access to a renewed source of Eridium. Thank you." The call disconnected and Lilith looked sour, and didn't look up, so I waited, not wanting to interrupt, and leaned on the wall.

I jumped as something touched my shoulder, then a hand grabbed my other and kept me from falling. I must have fallen asleep.

"Sorry, killer, didn't see you come in. How long you been here?" I had to yawn before I could answer.

"Sorry, you were taking an Echo, and I didn't want to inturpt."

"Yeah… sorry about that. That was Hyperion something or other, and basically gave us a bunch of wordy crap that said that, tonight, after they have cleaned out the Info Stockade, if we clear out the remaining bots, we can reclaim Fyrestone." She looked pensive, but shook her head. "But that's a problem for another day. How were things on your end?" I gave her a quick rundown of what had happened.

"Shit. Tack on another problem. Ugh, okay, thanks, going to have to think on this one for a while." She turned away, then looked over her shoulder. "Go ahead and catch a shower and a nap. Good job out there." She turned back and walked toward the balcony, muttering to herself, I think she forgot I was there. "Damn it, Roland, why did you have to go? You know I am not cut out for this leadership crap." I chose to forgo the shower for the moment, ambled into the room they let me have, hit the bed face first when my shins found it, and was out.

**End 1**


End file.
